Valedictorian
by SoleFlowing
Summary: With both Scorpius and Rose tying in all of their classes and both in the run for the spot of Valedictorian in their Seventh Year, there is only one class neither completed... Which of the two will triumph as victor? Or will they both fall at the last hurdle? Based loosely off a Modern Family episode.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter world. That all belongs to J.K. Rowling and her incredible imagination. I have based this story off an episode from Modern Family that I watched and instantly fell in love with. I don't own anything from Modern Family either.**

Rose Weasley was glowing. It was everybody's opinion as she skipped her way to the headmistresses' office. And why shouldn't she be? Not only had she been made Head Girl in her last year, and done a terrific job too, but she was also undoubtedly about to be made valedictorian of her year. So really, she shouldn't just be glowing, she should be radiant.

When she finally reached the office, knocked firmly on the door and entered with all the grace of the future valedictorian she was disturbed to see Scorpius Malfoy already sat on one of the armchairs facing the headmistress. The two looked at each other in confusion before glaring heatedly at the other.

"Please take a seat Miss Weasley", Professor McGonagall spoke sharply, not looking up from the work on her desk. Rose warily, took a seat in front of the teachers' desk, glancing briefly at Malfoy who was also glaring back at her. After several minutes of heated silence she decided to speak.

"Sorry Professor, but what exactly are we both doing here? Our Head duties are over now that exams have ended?" Scorpius nodded his agreement, his look of contempt indicating he was not looking forward to the answer. McGonagall looked up at the two of them, placed her pen on her work and gave them both a shrewd look wondering how she was going to approach this subject.

"You are correct in that your Head duties ended with the last exam of the year, but I did not call you both in here for that." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "as you know, we award valedictorian to the student with the highest marks in their year in Seventh year. However, we have marked both of your papers and looked back on both of your previous works throughout your NEWT years, and you are at an impossible tie regarding your marks. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I am awarding for the first time ever valedictorian to the both of you and you will be Hogwarts' co-valedictorians of 2024."

Rose and Scorpius both stared at their headmistress as though she had grown an extra limb and suddenly began speaking Mermish.

" _Co-valedictorians?_ " They responded in unison, their mouths agape as they both leaned forward on their seats not quite believing what they had just heard.

"That is what I just said." McGonagall replied sharply, preparing for the blow-up that was inevitably about to occur. As if on cue, the two Heads jumped to their feet in outrage as they stared at one another.

"But Professor," Rose began, "There must be some mistake, I know that my grades are better than Malfoys, you have to count them again!"

"Oh please Weasley, you think you can do so much better than me? Rather the other way around more like! Professor please, I implore you to recount." McGonagall looked at the two of them looming over her desk, before picking up the sheet of paper she was working on.

"I thought this would be the reaction and to prove that I am quite right, I have written down all of your grades from this year and last year to prove that you have equally tied." She handed the parchment to the two students who quickly snatched it off her and began to pore over the writing standing closer than they ever had before.

"But," Rose murmured as she glanced at the marks, " _I've_ done better, I know I have, you got that A on your charms homework in Sixth year and I got an O!"

"Well you got an A on your potions homework at the beginning of the year," Scorpius began heatedly, "And _I_ got an O that time!"

The two slowly glanced up at each other as they realised that they had indeed, scored identical marks throughout all of their NEWT's and both sprung back horrified at the implications of this dreaded news. Seeing their resigned faces, McGonagall stood up from behind her desk.

"Well, now that that is over with, I once again wish to congra-" She began before she was cut of by a shout from Scorpius. All eyes turned to him as he smirked at the headmistress.

"Professor, I believe you are wrong," Rose's heart sunk into her stomach as she wondered if Scorpius had found a grade of his marginally better than hers. "Not _all_ of the grades have been marked. Neither Rose, nor I completed the compulsory Physical Education module we had to take until Fifth year."

"Mr. Malfoy, please don't be ridiculous. You know we only take the marks from your Sixth and Seventh years at Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall replied.

Rose's eyes gleamed with hope as she turned to the Professor. "But Professor McGonagall, if this is the _only_ way to set our marks apart you _have_ to let us do this!" Rose begged, " _please_ let us work to complete that module and whoever does best in it can win valedictorian. Plus it's an OWL level grade, so you can't say that it means nothing." Rose knew she was putting all her eggs in one basket and she had just as much chance of losing as she did winning, but she would rather lose than share valedictorian with anybody _._ Professor McGonagall glanced at the two of them contemplating the idea.

"Very well, the two of you shall compete in a physical challenge and the winner at the end gets valedictorian."

Rose and Scorpius both stood to attention, smiling happily at the outcome.

"I promise you, Professor you won't regret this." Scorpius said before turning to Rose, "prepare to lose Weasley." He said before turning stiffly and walking out of the office. Rose nodded politely to the professor before following his trail. She had to get some practice in, and she knew just the person to help her.

Once Albus Potter heard what was happening between his two best friends, he knew they would both come to him. Scorpius and Rose were the two smartest people Albus had ever met. Yet these brains came with years spent holed up in the library or in their common rooms working endlessly on essays and projects.

Albus on the other hand, loved the outdoors, any class that had anything to do with the outdoors were his favourite. He had no doubt that he had failed his NEWT Charms, but he knew he had aced Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Both Scorpius and Rose had snubbed Physical Education for their entire time at Hogwarts, both accepting that they would rather fail the class and spend their time focused on other academics. Again Albus was the opposite having gained an O in the class and becoming Quidditch Captain for Ravenclaw when he was in Fifth year. Both Rose and Scorpius knew that he specialised in sport and it wasn't long until he was tracked down by both as they attempted to convince him to help them win.

"No." He repeated for the sixtieth time that day as he sullenly sat down at the Ravenclaw table and began spooning mash onto his plate completely ignoring the blonde head beside him.

"But why Al? Why won't you help me?" Scorpius begged.

"One, because the person your going against is my cousin and I know it's been her dream since she was old enough to know what valedictorian meant to become one and if I helped you I would be essentially crushing her life dreams and I cant do that to family. Two," he ploughed on knowing Scorpius would try to answer back, "This whole thing is a stupid idea anyway, I've never even see either of you _run_ unless it was towards a book. And three, I'm not getting involved, you're both my best friends and I don't want to be the person in the middle like I always am with you two."

Albus finished the speech he had been practicing, the speech he had just previously given to Rose in their Herbology class together. Scorpius stared at him for a while longer but seeing he wasn't going to budge settled for glaring at him across the table.

Looks like the two of them will be practicing alone for this test Albus smirked.

Rose huffed loudly as she finished her lap around the lake, letting out a breath as she began her walk back to the castle. She had been running twice around the lake each morning to prepare her for the test tomorrow, determined to win. As she climbed the steps to the castle, the door swung open and a blonde head came out of the door.

Rose let out a groan as she stood at the bottom of the steps watching Scorpius walk down, also dressed for exercise. She suddenly became very aware of her small attire as she tried to stretch her shorts further down her legs and wished she had worn a baggier top than her Hufflepuff house t-shirt that was very form fitting. Scorpius reached the bottom of the steps watching her the whole time. Rose waited for him to say something, but he just continued to stare at her. She rolled her eyes and began to climb the steps. That was until she felt a hand around her wrist.

"Look," Scorpius began, his fingers warm around her arm, "I know that we've always been in competition with each other all these years, and we haven't exactly been the friendliest towards one another, but I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed competing against you. You've kept me on my toes all these years and I don't know about you but this competition has forced me to excel and I wouldn't be where I am today without it." He finished giving Rose a meaningful look. Rose simply stared back at him, her mouth hanging open. Did he really just, almost, kind of _compliment_ her? He definitely thanked her. And with Scorpius Malfoy _that_ was something new.

"Errr…" She gaped at him. "Thank you? I mean, yeah I agree, this rivalry we've had has helped me push myself to where I am today and I wouldn't have got my dream job if you hadn't pushed me the whole way."

"You agree?" Scorpius asked his hand tightening around her wrist.

"Erm, yes?" Rose answered, still unsure of the answer he wanted. His fingers tightened once more before he realised what he was doing and withdrew his hand, leaving Rose to feel cold at the loss of contact.

"Well then I guess I'll just throw it out there as well and say not only are you crazy smart, but you're also beautiful" he smiled as he began to walk away from Rose, "See you at the test Weasley, by the way, your legs look killer in those shorts." With that he jogged away towards the lake leaving Rose once again standing on the steps with her mouth hanging open.

What just happened?

She went to Dominique for help. Dominique was her closest female friend and even though they were both put in separate houses, they still managed to stay as close.

Currently, Rose was in the Gryffindor tower in Dom's bedroom, lying in her exercise gear on her bed.

"I just don't get it, it was so weird and random. But also kind of sweet" Rose smiled as she remembered his fingers around her wrist. "So what do you think Dommy?" She asked as she stared at the canopy of Doms bed.

"Well," she began, her long legs dangling from the window ledge she was perched on, "I mean that does sound kind of cute, and the two of you do have this crazy competition which is like sexual tension for geeks…" Rose rolled her eyes at this, "but, why would Scorpius say all of this now, don't you think it was a little convenient that he would say all of that the day before your big test?" Rose sat up. She glanced at Dom who was looking at her warily.

"Well, I mean I guess it was random but, everything he said sounded genuine…" She trailed off, confusion clouding her senses. After all these years, why _did_ Scorpius tell her the day before their final test together? Was it to put her off? Throw her off guard so that he could win? Was it a tactic? Rose's eyes widened in realisation.

"He was trying to _trick_ me into losing! How dare he! He thinks he's got me so infatuated with him, telling me all those lies. Well I'll show him" Rose seethed, "I'll show him who's infatuated. He is so going down!" With that Rose leaped off the bed and ran out of the door, her mind solely focused on winning.

The day of the test was clear and sunny, a perfect day for outside sports. Rose was dressed and ready to go by the time her alarm clock went off, adrenalin coursing through her body. She felt like she was an athlete about to do the most major competition of her career. Though she doubted that either her or Scorpius would ever become athletes.

At 11am she left the Great Hall to head to the lake where the competition was being held. When she reached the lake, Professor McGonagall and the sports teacher Professor Wood were both stood waiting for her alongside Scorpius. From a distance Albus and Dominique watched.

"Good morning Rose, Scorpius." Professor McGonagall greeted the two. "We have decided that the test this morning will be a mile long run, you are to do three laps around the lake, and the first one back here wins valedictorian. If you could both take your places at the starting line."

Rose and Scorpius both walked to the line that had been drawn on the floor and positioned themselves to begin. Scorpius glanced towards Rose who adamantly refused to look back.

"Nervous?" He asked as he began a light jog on the spot. Rose continued to stare straight ahead of her.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Scorpius asked, stopping jogging and instead staring straight at her. Rose closed her eyes and visualised herself winning the race.

"Look," Scorpius began, "If I freaked you out yesterday with anything I said- "

"Look just drop it Malfoy" she interrupted, "I'm not falling for any of your little mind games."

Scorpius gaped at her. "You think I'm playing mind games? Rose I – "

But he was abruptly cut off as Wood blew the whistle to indicate the start of the race. Rose set off at a blistering pace determined to get as far away from Scorpius Malfoy and his tantalising speeches as possible. She heard a commotion behind her and glanced back to see Scorpius hadn't even moved from the starting line.

"What are you playing at?" Rose demanded. "Why aren't you running?"

"Rose I'm not playing mind games with you. I really do like you and if losing valedictorian will prove it then I forfeit." Scorpius replied adamantly.

"Really? You really like me?" Rose questioned as she began to edge her way back to him.

"Of course I do, you're the only person who can challenge me and still make me smile when I inevitably lose." Rose smiled at his response, finally coming to stand before him. His hand slowly reached up to brush her face as he leant down to kiss her gently on the lips. When they broke apart, Rose was radiant.

"I guess co-valedictorian isn't so bad then." She smiled before linking her hands with his.

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 **SoleFlowing**


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